APRA may extend capital deadline by a year

The banking regulator has proposed extending the deadline for implementing new capital rules on some loans by a year to 2022 after lenders raised concerns about the impact on their competitiveness against foreign rivals.

The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority had in February proposed that lenders adopt higher risk weightings on some kinds of loans as the government passed laws aimed at avoiding public bailouts of banks in a crisis.

APRA had planned to implement the revisions on January 1, 2021, but said on Tuesday it "is proposing to revise this based on industry concerns about the business impact of moving ahead of international competitors".

Addressing concerns about the calculation methods to be used, APRA said it required institutions to largely follow the Basel III methodology to calculate their leverage ratios.

The proposed changes come as Australia moves to finalise the implementation of the Basel III capital rules, which are being adopted worldwide to bolster bank defences against risk.

The regulator said it is seeking industry feedback on the draft standards and welcomed suggestions from interested parties by February 22, 2019.

Australian banks are under scrutiny as a government-backed inquiry looks into allegations of bribery, fraud, the charging of fees for no service, as well as board-level deception of regulators.